Railway-switch.



i. L. BREWER.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

urmomxon FILED NOV. 25, 1907.

Patented May 25, 1909.

2 SHEBTB-BHBBT 1.

nventoz @rewe/ dumm .I: ums PETERS 60., wAsnmaTnu, n. c.

R. L. BREWBR..

RAILWAY swmm.

. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 26, 1907. Patented May 2 sums-8113M- 2.

v akkmnuak ms nu ms PzrER's ca. wnsnmcr u n. c

ROBERT LEE BREWER, OF CAMDEN, ARKANSAS.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1909.

Application filed November 25, 1907. Serial No. 403,715.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that ROBERT LEE BREWER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Camden, in the county of Ouohita and State of Arkansas, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Switches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway switches andv more particularly to safety switches, and has for its object to provide a switch of this character whereby the switch rails may be automatically moved by the passing of a train from the main line and which switch rail will be automatically set after the passing of the train.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description and it will be understood that changes in the specific structure shown and described may be made within the scope of the claim without departing from the spirit of the invention.

in the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a top plan view of the present switch closed, Fi 2 is a similar view showing the switch set for a siding, Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 7-7 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a railway switch 10, consisting of main line rails 11 and 12, and siding rails 13 and 14. The rail 11 of the main line is stationary, and the rail 12 is movable. The rail 13 is also a movable rail and is connected to the rail 12 by means of the movable members 15 and 16 respectively. The member 15 is provided with a housing block 17, recessed upon its under face as shown at 18, and is thus arranged to slide upon the member 16, as shown. The housing 17 is also provided with downwardly extending guide flanges 19 and. 20 which are arranged at either side of the member 16. The member 16 is provided with a recess 21, receiving one end. of a coiled spring 22. The other end of this spring is arranged in a recess 23 formed in the member 15.

The rail 12 is provided upon its base flange with a downwardly extending block 24, grooved as shown at 25 to receive a slidable bar 26. The bar 26 is secured to the block 24 as shown at 27, and extends outwardly of the rail 1 4 and beneath the same as shown, its outer end being slotted as shown at 28 and carrying pivotally one end of a link 29. The'link is pivoted at its opposite end to an outwardly extending finger 30 carried by a rotatable post 31. The post 31 is protected from the weather by means of a casing 32, and is provided. with a hand lever 33 for operation of the bar 26.

The rail 13 is rovided with a downwardly extending bloc 34, secured to the base flange of this rail as shown. provided with the enlarged heads 35 and 36 respectively and in these heads there are formed horizontally disposed recesses 37 and 38. These recesses 37 and 38 are arranged to receive one end of coiled springs 39 and 40. The opposite ends of these springs are engaged in horizontally disposed recesses formed in the enlarged heads 43 and 44 of a block 45. The block 45 is recessed as shown at 46, and is thus arranged to straddle the bar 26, as shown, being secured thereto by means of a set screw 47. The springs 39 and 40 hold the rail 13 resiliently in spaced relation with the block 45, so that when the rail 12 is disposed against the siding rail 14, the rail 13 will lie in spaced relation with the rail 11, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings.

When a train passes the switch on the main line moving outwardly as shown by the di rection of the arrow in Fig. 3, it will be seen that the flanges of the wheels of the train will engage the rail 13, and by means of the sliding arrangement of this rail it will be seen that a train may pass this point without the aid of an operator for the switch, and after the train has passed the point it will be seen that the rail 13 will be automatically moved to its original position. The above description also applies to a train which may be on a siding. If a train should be coming in a reverse direction the rails 12 and 13 may be moved away from the rails 11 or 14 by means of the slidable bar 26 which is connected to the revoluble post 31.

It will be understood that the spring 22, and the springs 39 and 40 are properly ad- The block 34 is justed upon their support to balance each i said coengaged rails into yieldable engage- 10 other for the operation of the switch as set Inent alternately with an adjacent rail. forth. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature,

ifhat 1is claimed is: 1 in presence of two witnesses.

rai wa switc com risin main ine rails and siding rails, one of sa%d main line ROBERT LEE BREVVER' rails and one of said siding rails being resili- Witnesses: ently coengaged in spaced relation, and W. H. HALL, means engaged centrally thereof for shifting J. T. SIFFORD. 

